Intrepid docked at Pt. Loma Sportfishing February 4 under skipper Kevin Osborne’s hand. She had just finished a 15-day trip with 24 anglers, a Soft Steel charter with Tony Garza as chartermaster. Most aboard had the best fish of their lives, said Kevin, with one angler beating his own best fish four times during the trip.

Todd White of Houston, TX got the best fish, a 263.6-pounder that beat his previous best tuna of 178 pounds. Todd told Bill Roecker he got his first-place winner with a flying fish under the kite on one of the boat’s kite outfits: a 10/0 Mustad 7691 hook in one end of the bait and a 20/0 Mustad circle hook on the other, tied to Soft Steel Ultra 130-pound line. An Avet 50 reel and a Seeker 6463 XXXH rod made up the rest.

“It took about an hour and a half,” said Todd. “He got pretty squirrely at the end, dashing back and forth across the stern. That’s where we got him."

Brandon Lowe of Yorba Linda won second place for his best fish ever, a 240.8-pounder. It bit on the double trouble sardine rig under the kite and fought for two and a half hours, taking Lowe around the boat five times.

“I fought him for an hour and a half on the bow,” remarked Lowe. “ He came up on the stern.”

Tony Garza of Anaheim won third place for his 227.8-pound yellowfin. He baited a sardine on a 6/0 Mustad Demon hook and 130-pound Soft Steel Ultra. He fished with 100-pound Line One spectra, a Makira 20 reel and a Super Seeker 2 X 4 rod.

Ken Houser of Bishop caught a 224.6-pounder with a sardine on a ringed Owner Super Mutu hook and 100-pound Soft Steel Ultra. He used 100-pound Line One spectra, and Avet 30 reel and a Calstar 7465 H rod to beat the tuna in a hour and a half.

Rick Raskin of Trabuco Canyon got a yellowfin that was missing its anal fin or bottom sickle, a fish that weighed 223.6 pounds. It bit on a sardine and a 6/0 ringed Super Mutu tied to 130-pound Soft Steel Ultra and 130-pound Kanzen spectra on a Sheets-treated Penn 30 SW reel and a Fenwick 6465 XXH rod.

Patrick Wichert of San Diego bagged a 213.6-pounder with a salami mackerel on an 8/0 ringed Super Mutu on 100-pound Soft Steel Ultra and 100-pound Line One spectra. He said he fished with an Okuma 20 reel and a Super Seeker 2 X 4 rod.

Bill Sheridan of Alvin, TX nabbed his first cow, a 212-pounder, with a sardine on a 5/0 Eagle Claw hook and 100-pound Soft Steel Ultra. He used 100-pound Toro Tamer spectra, a Talica 25 reel and a GRUSA 77XXH rod.

Bob Wolfson of Dana Point found a 210-pounder with a sardine on a 7/0 Eagle Claw hook tied to 100-poundSeaguar Premier fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One spectra. He used a Tiagra 50 reel and a Calstar 6460 XH rod.

John Bradford of San Luis Opisbo took a half-hour to beat his 208-pound tuna after it bit his sardine on a 7/0 Eagle Claw hook tied to 130-poundSeaguar Premier fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One spectra. He employed a Penn 50 reel and a Calstar 655 XXH rod.

Rookie Todd Morton of Huntington Beach caught A 202-pound tuna with a double sardine under the kit, with one of the boat’s kite rigs.

Two anglers caught a sizeable portion of the boat’s wahoo with a newly-invented jig made by Ron Huth of Seiad Valley. Ron calls this unusual jig a Bullet Bomb, since it’s made from a shell casing, two swivels, some paint and decorative skirting, a small Siwash hook and a spinner blade attached.

Ron said he got 11 skinnies with his invention, and that casings of 30-06 up to 338 magnum were good for the purpose. He fills the casing with molten lead, which holds the swivels on both ends securely. He said he tried to pull one of his little bombs apart by hitching it to a car, but the 130-pound wire broke first.

His theory: this bomb is easy to grind because of its small diameter. It’s heavy, and the fish seem more attracted to it; at least he got more wahoo than the other anglers with it. He remarked that the idea came to him “…in a nightmare,” and that he called the added trim “Marabou Muddler.” He said he’d caught 27 wahoo on it before this trip.

Red Rooster III arrived February 3, with 21 tuna over 200 pounds, including a 324-pounder for Bill Brandstetter of Mission Viejo. Scott Redd got a 267, and Accurate rep Bob “Scrappy” Michener of Oxnard took his 50th tuna, a 245-pound yellowfin, on an Accurate reel.

Braid Trip

Skipper Time Ekstrom and Royal Star brought home 18 cows, arriving at Fisherman’s Landing February 3. The boat departed the same day on the Las Rocas trip, with Randy Toussaint driving.

The Cow Count

At the end of January, the cow count stood at 433 yellowfin tuna over 200 pounds brought in to the San Diego sportfishing docks during the current big tuna season, which runs from October through June.

La Paz: Mixed Fishing

“It was a mixed week of fishing both for the weather and the catch,” reported Jonathan Roldan for the week ending February 3. “Early in the week, we were into dorado and yellowtail fishing as we launched our pangas from Bahia de Los Muertos. Nothing spectacular, but decent catches with lots of action if you add in the bonito, smaller pargo and cabrilla that were released. Almost all live-bait fishing. Then, the winds came up mid-week. Fortunately, we didn’t have fisher-folks mid-week.

“Winds started to diminish about Thursday so we had pangas out every day through the weekend with decent success. I was surprised by the number of dorado we’re still catching even though it’s winter. Nothing big, but tasty fun-sized school fish between 10 and 15 pounds are lots of fun and great for many of our winter anglers who aren’t hard-core fisher folks and really are in town just to get some sunshine and have some fun on the water. As well, we did get into yellowtail, but they were the smaller models no more than 10-pounders plus cabrilla (many ended up at our Tailhunter Restaurant for dinner!) and smaller pargo. Plus some decent numbers of sierra mackerel. Add that to the bonito and other assorted species and it made for some OK action and fun days on the water although nothing spectacular in terms of size.”